The provision of a power collection apparatus including a power ground and control signal rail arrangement is known in the prior art for application in a transportation system to supply power, grounding and control signals to at least one transportation vehicle which is directed along the transportation system roadways by guide wheels depending from the vehicle and which follow a guide beam incorporated as part of the roadway. The arrangement provides for mounting at least the power rails on top of the roadway guide beam to establish power collection surfaces which are resistant to dirt and moisture and the operation of which is not substantially disturbed due to the normal relative movements between the guide beam and the vehicle. The power rails are disposed in a triangular arrangement providing connection to the three phases of a three phase alternating power signal and positioned on the top of the guide beam. A pivotal guide beam switch can be provided for directing a vehicle between a first and second roadway or alternatively between a first and third roadway if desired. A power and control signal rail arrangement cooperative with suitable vehicle connectors provides ground rail and control signal rail connections to the vehicle as it passes through the pivotal guide beam switch.
Transportation systems employing at least one self-propelled rubber-tired vehicle which traverses a roadway comprises of spaced parallel tracks are well known in the prior art and generally described in the Transit Expressway Report of the MPC Corporation, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213, dated Feb. 20, 1967, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,180 of E. O. Mueller. In these prior art transportation systems the vehicles are directed along the roadway by guide wheels depending from the bottom of each vehicle and traveling a guide beam supported between and parallel to the roadway tracks. Also in these transportation systems electric power is supplied to the vehicle through current collectors in contact with power rails mounted in relation to the guide beam or to the roadway tracks. Control signals are supplied to the vehicle through antennas mounted on the roadway.
In a power rail mounting arrangement known in the prior art, as disclosed in published articles appearing in the Westinghouse Engineer for July 1965 at pages 98 to 103 and in the Westinghouse Engineer for January 1969 at pages 9 to 15, power rails were mounted in insulated brackets fixed to the roadway tracks. This arrangement for mounting power rails required extensive adjustment at the installation site to obtain proper alignment between the rails and the collectors mounted on the vehicle making this arrangement expensive and difficult to implement. In addition, since this arrangement could not provide power to a vehicle traveling through roadway switch areas, it required additional sets of power rails and complementary collectors at the roadway switch areas. A second power rail arrangement, known in the prior art and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,308 of W. R. Segar, provided for bracketing the power rails to a lower flange of the guide beam such that the rail surfaces in contact with the collectors were located below the horizontal plane of the vehicle guide wheels. Since this arrangement would allow the guide wheels to pass over the power rails, power could be provided to the vehicle as it traveled through the roadway switching areas. However, since the power rails were also located close to the road bed, they were susceptible to accumulations of dirt and moisture on the collection surfaces of the rails. These prior art arrangements permitted lateral or rolling forces acting on the vehicle to interfere with the contact between the collectors and the power rails, and for transportation systems with vehicle turnaround capability required multiple sets of power rails, power collectors and control signal rails. Also, since the power rails of the prior art arrangements were laterally disposed, reactive interference between power rails carrying a multiple phase alternating power signal limited the efficiency of the rail arrangements of the prior art.